fizbot

What probably happened is that the guy passed through a scanner and got flagged for an RFID and when he emptied out his pocket the only funny thing there was some canadian coins which they promptly blamed rather than searching further to find that it's actually the RFID sown in to his new pair of pants to prevent stealing from the store. Of course they can't say they made a mistake, so it's "Foreign coins a security threat".

All the canadian comedians work in the US! Wikipedia even has a special entry for it! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Canadian_comedians Aykroyd, Dan - Actor (Ghostbusters, Blues Brothers), formerly of Saturday Night Live Bullard, Mike - former late night talk show host Candy, John - Actor (Uncle Buck, Home Alone), from SCTV Carrey, Jim - Actor (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber) Cullen, Seán - Gagnon, André-Philippe - Impersonator Green, Tom - formerly of MTV Hartman, Phil - formerly of Saturday Night Live & Simpsons Levy, Eugene - Actor (American Pie), from SCTV Little, Rich - Impersonator MacDonald, Norm - formerly of Saturday Night Live Mandel, Howie - Mercer, Rick - Host of Rick Mercer Report, and formerly of This Hour Has 22 Minutes Mochrie, Colin - from Whose Line Is It Anyway and formerly of This Hour Has 22 Minutes Moranis, Rick - Actor (Ghostbusters, Little shop of horrors, Honey, I shrunk the kids), from SCTV Myers, Mike - Actor (Austin Powers, Shrek), formerly of Saturday Night Live Nielsen, Leslie - Actor (Airplane!, Naked Gun) O'Hara Catherine - Actress (Home Alone), from SCTV Short, Martin - formerly of SCTV Smith, Steve - aka 'Red Green' Thomas, Dave - Movie Actor, from SCTV I might even add Captain Kirk, William Shatner to the list too. If you've seen any of those insurance and bran commercials he's doing you'll know what I mean :-)

They hide them primarially in lamp-posts every 150Ms. Biggest problem with a lot of US caching is finding a container big enough to actually PUT a TB in!

A dinner of trout?

I notice that a lot of the "add-on" plans are not visible through the Bell/Rogers/Telus web sites. All 3 companies offer an unlimited data package "add-on" that can be added to a plan. Prices vary and depends on what your base plan is. You'll need to check with a store in person though to find the details. Note also that not all stores are equal - some are re-sellers, some are agents and some are actually corporate stores. The plans available in each store also varies. :-(

There are "unlimited data" plans available if you are going to do a lot of surfing. Not exactly cheap though. I've been using my blackberry/web browser for paperless caching for quite a while now and find it very convienent as it is always up to date (unlike my palm), however it IS quite slow and although coverage is generally pretty good through the entire GTA and outlying areas, probably once out of every 30-40 caches I end up someplace with no reception or extreamly weak (ie. extra slow) reception. Not bad overall though.

Yep, great summary Keeper... Not a Y2K problem, a Y1024K problem :-) I had that problem with my original Micrologic GPS which I describe in my geocache "Accuracy, who needs it?" GCG141 GCG141 Accuracy, Who needs it? As for the original posters problem... as Tomtec said, need more info to troubleshoot.

Definately not less expensive... I finally managed to aquire a paper topo map for a remote area, but what I really needed was a Tyvek one. Unfortunately, the government never issued Tyvek maps for this area. After receiving the raw vector image data for this area, I had a print shop produce the map on Tyvek for me. The cost was over $100, when the government issued Tyvek maps only run around $15... How do they keep their prices low? Volume... The Queen's printer does not print single maps, they crank out hundreds at a time! You've missed an important point. If there is a demand, then it will be filled, not by people printing their own maps on plotters, but by printers with the same -- or better -- equipment than The Queen's Printer. They, too, will crank out hundreds at a time. I think that the Government should continue their role of data stewards but get out of the printing business. Printing should not be a core compentcy of the Government when there is such a myriad of private sector solutions that range from low-cost or DIY to superior quality specialty services. I think that the government is doing the right thing in making the data available and letting the private sector do what it does best, filling the gaps and creating new innovative solutions. I believe that you will shortly find a number of shops offering similar quality printing (there may even be contracts available for transitional services or supply of maps to government ministries), many new groups building the data into new products such as electronic charts or perhaps low-cost map books and improvement of existing private sector mapping products (electronic and paper) with new overlays and new data, and new sales channels. In a free market the private sector is very good about filling a gap in a very cost effective manner. Fizbot.

12 of my first 14 caches were Tony's Parking on the Credit series which I completed over 2 weeks in January 2003 using my old Micrologic GPS. Cached with Tony many times and enjoyed each others caches. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words... We'll miss you Tony. Fizbot

Sorry for the late update, but pictures from the event are available at: http://pbruch.dyndns.org/webpages/geocaching/24hour3/

Hope to be able to make it. Can't miss out on a good time. More info nearer to the event.

congrats Keith. Maybe you can try the next 1000 in the daylight!?

I'm in for either day or night :-) But it will need to be in April as I'm off to Europe on Friday for a couple weeks of tourist-ing... (I mean caching, but I haven't told the people that I'm going with yet!) On the positive side, it won't be anywhere near as bad or difficult as Dex's 5/5 cache in that area even if we might walk close to some of the stages.

I found a Calgary coin too and Res2100 has a personal coin.

Yep, I've placed many orders to them and had excellent service! Next day shipping. Price matching (even though they are cheaper than any of the stores around here). No problems with RMA's and you don't pay PST on orders! Lots of stock and all the options. I refuse to buy elsewhere anymore.

Ack, it's 3 hours after they went on sale and they are marked as completely sold out. Darn, will have to wait for the next batch I guess. Gold - 100 coins - SOLD OUT Silver - 200 coins - SOLD OUT Bronze - SOLD OUT

I keep hearing everyone say that caching is not about the numbers, so my goal (not quite intentional) was to continue a theme set by MLord to think outside of the standard cache log. A good opportunity was for my #1300 when I happened to be Near AmazonAnnie's "Some like it Hot" cache (GCNH43). I won't post the details here as there are probably young and impressionable people around, but if you do some research at the cache page, you will know what I'm talking about. It's not about the numbers - Long live the milestones! Fizbot.

Great event again Keith. Thanks to all the participants and especially to my chauffeur, Dr. Clean, who managed to pull off a great vehicle and keep it pointed in (*mostly*) the right direction. Everyone out was great to be with and all were excellent in their attitudes and patience, especially at the 4AM call! My pictures are available at http://pbruch.dyndns.org/webpages/geocaching/24hour2/ please let me know if you would like a high-res version of any of these pictures. Paul (Fizbot)

I'd love to see Geocaching adopt a "certificate" system the same way that SETI does for hitting milestones. This allows each participant to print out nice little personalized certs for themselves after they reach different work milestones (although I can't find the certificates right now since they have re-organized the site). Would be kind of cool for geocaching... Could have 100, 250, 500 + caches found or 100 Virtuals found or ... What's everyone else think?

I think that the current set of Approvers do an AWESOME job especially given the scope and magnitude of the work. They are timely and accurate. They have also been around long enough to know what works and what doesn't, and if they need local knowledge they know all the right local people to ask. There are also enough cachers out there that if something gets by them for any reason, I'm sure that they hear about it. Great job guys (and gal)! Fizbot

I will continue to suggest that Canada and US have more than enough rules already without adding more rules to the pot. Existing Parks legislation outlines in great detail the acceptable use permitted in the various parks. I believe that there is plenty of room in the existing legislation for caching. (generalizing as we are talking about a whole bunch of different jurisdictions here, but I feel the generalization is warranted and does not invalidate my argument) People who do not adhere to the rules can be charged as also defined within the legislation. This can apply to the owner of a cache who hid it in violation of a rule, or a cacher who transgressed a rule in searching inappropriately for a cache. With the exception of leaving things behind (the cache), a well placed cache contravenes none of these rules and the activity and the leaving things behind can be argued in most of the current ambiguous legislation and in case law. If the various parks boards think that there is a problem with use of their park, then start by enforcing their own rules on ALL of the people using their parks rather than creating new rules to target a specific group, such as geocachers. Doing so will just result in eventual civil action by a user community down the road where some professional lawyers will tie the current legislation and rules up into knots with case law and loopholes (such as what has happened in the past with regard to Logging and Mining in parks (allowed within the legislation with appropriate paperwork), or mountain bike riding (allowed in many parks), or dogs/pets, or park improvements to allow handicap access, or private enterprise in parks for commercial use (Ski hills, hotdog stands, private campsites, private contractors running the parks etc...), or cellular and microwave antenna sites or... I would challenge the parks to be pro-active and come up with a set of rules and guidelines to HELP cachers use the parks WITHIN the current rules and mandate. People who don't follow the rules can still be punished, just as any current rule breakers can currently. The genie is out of the bottle - the people are going to do what they want and they will find a way to do it, whether through legal action, civil disobedience or politicking. Let's save a whole bunch of time and effort and see what we can do to set this behind us and get on with enjoying the great outdoors and our parks.

Sounds like a plan to me!

Been there - Done that; http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GCG141 Accuracy. Who needs it? Tells the story of my first MicroLogic GPS with the Y1K problem and has cachers find the hidden cache within the "error" box.

or Lock-n-lock's. I've moved all my caches to them or Ammo cans... Everything else leaks or doesn't stand up to one of the seasons here.